Abstract: An optical code reader comprises an integrated optical resonator that is disposed within a housing and that includes a substrate, a cantilever beam, and a bimorph actuator. The cantilever beam is affixed at one end to the substrate, and at least a portion of the cantilever beam has a reflective transmit surface on one side and a photodetector on an opposite side. The bimorph actuator is affixed to the cantilever beam and is responsive to an electrical stimulus to cause the cantilever beam to move in accordance with the stimulus. Movement of the cantilever beam causes the reflective surface to cooperate with a light beam generated by a light source to provide a spot of light that moves on a code pattern, and also causes a field of view of the photodetector to be dynamically altered such that the photodetector tracks movement of the moving spot of light.

Abstract: An integrated micro-electromechanical (MEM) optical resonator comprises a cantilever beam which is fixed to a substrate at one end and extends freely over the substrate at the other end, and a bimorph actuator stacked atop the beam at its fixed end. A reflective surface partially covers the top of the beam at its free end. The bimorph actuator comprises material layers having different thermal expansion coefficients. A DC-biased AC voltage connected across the actuator causes it to heat and cool as the current passing through it increases and decreases, creating a thermal bimorph effect which causes the cantilever beam and the reflective surface to oscillate in accordance with the varying current, preferably at the beam and actuator structure's fundamental resonant frequency. Combining the resonator with a light source and actuator excitation circuitry creates an optical scanner engine which delivers a scan angle in excess of 20 degrees and a scan rate of up to 2000 Hz, using a driving voltage of only 2 V.

Abstract: A method for real time processing of information received from a plurality of permanent magnets embedded in the pavement of an Intelligent Vehicle Highway System. A sequence of magnet orientations provides coded information to sensors mounted on automotive vehicles. The method uses a combination of extended Kalman filtering and Schweppe likelihood estimation to determine the relative location and orientation of the magnets. A separate location estimator (extended Kalman filter) is provided for each of the possible magnet orientations. A decision process identifies the most likely orientation of the magnet, and the Kalman filter selected by the process contains the best estimate of the location of the magnet. Schweppe likelihood estimation is extended to use the detector as a decoder of the information provided by the orientation sequence of the magnets.

Abstract: The device is made by growing thin-film layers of materials on a silicon strate. These layers are then removed selectively by photolitographic masking and etching, to produce a pattern which is a series of cantilever plates which are piezoelectrically coupled. An electrical signal connected to a first pattern of piezoelectric material will cause the associated plate to deflect. A second piezoelectric pattern on each plate will generate an electrical signal due to the strain caused by deflection of the plate, and this signal is transferred to a first piezoelectric pattern on the next plate, and so on down to the last plate where the signal is extracted.